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North Kivu - Humanitarians Facing Huge Challenges

United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)

NEWS
19 October 2007
Posted to the web 19 October 2007

By Eoin Young

The humanitarian situation in North Kivu is precarious. According to the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 143,000 people have
been displaced between mid September and mid October 2007, and the number of
displaced keeps rising due to insecurity in the province.
The displaced are concentrated west of Goma in five sites, in eight sites in
Rutshuru territory and certain others in Masisi territory.
"The main problems are of shelter, nutrition and health, and the humanitarian
community is responding as best they can," said OCHA public information officer
Nestor Yombo-Djema.
He went on to say that the clashes between the DRC Armed Forces and ex General
Laurent Nkunda's dissidents prevents the humanitarians from accessing many
displaced persons.
"Therefore our knowledge on the total number of displaced people is not
complete. Because of accessibility problems the majority of humanitarian action
is concentrated on the sites close to Goma," he added.
Donors have given funding of US$40 million so far which allows the
humanitarians to continue their work, and the UN World Food Programme has
tripled the total quantity of food aid which was envisaged at the beginning of
year.
To reinforce the humanitarian response in North Kivu, OCHA opened a mobile
office in Minova four weeks ago, and another mobile office in Kitchanga on 17
October last.
In Minova the majority of the needy have been able to receive humanitarian aid.
In Kitchanga there is an inter agency evaluation mission organised to make an
evaluation in the Kitchanga / Mweso zone to identify the needs, count the
displaced, prioritise the most urgent needs and to organise a response for
them.
Ylva Blondel of OCHA explained that that OCHA's task is to facilitate and
coordinate the humanitarian response to the North Kivu crisis.
"But the major problem is access, as the roads are already in a bad condition,
and this has been complicated by the clashes and deterioration in the security
situation. There are also soldiers and armed groups who are not giving access
to humanitarians to populations in need," she explained.
"Recently civilians have been blocking humanitarian aid because they are afraid
that we are bringing assistance to troops who could later harm them. This is an
aspect which complicates humanitarian aid," she added.
Another concern for the humanitarians is health epidemics. There is an epidemic
of cholera and measles in Kitchanga and probably in Mweso, but due to lack of
access the information is incomplete.
Another serious problem is severe malnutrition in Mweso, where the rate of
malnutrition is 17%.
The humanitarian contingency plan for North Kivu was re-examined three times,
and the last one which was made in July allows for a capacity to respond to the
needs of 270,000 people if clashes restart.
"Until now, there are 143,000 confirmed as displaced since then, therefore they
are part of this figure, but this figure is continuously increasing, and we
have already nearly reached the capacity envisaged," OCHA's Ylva Blondel
concluded.

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